[2022] New event does not benefit new players

This is correct – while it doesn’t benefit new players, not every event will. It’s targeted for folks that dropped out at T3 as a stepping stone into more end-game content. (Or, alts, if ya want!)

There will always be different events on rotation that target different kinds of players. To be blunt, the correct time to really make a big push for more new players all at once will be when the bot situation is under better control so that a new user’s experience will be much better/cleaner.

The honing buff is a design/balance choice, regardless of bots; unfortunately I don’t know when it will come to this version of the game, just that it will.